The Adam Smith Institute’s Future of Utilities 2008 conference, held on 10 and 11 March 2008, was attended by senior executives from across the industry.  The focus of the conference was delivering security and sustainability, and Deloitte was delighted to be a lead sponsor.

The overriding theme of the conference was carbon reduction – all the sector CEOs are serious about it.  In addition to mitigating the impact of climate change and achieving the 2020 carbon reduction targets, there was recognition of the need for new build generation over the next 20-30 years, and in particular the need for timely decision making and prompt action to be taken to avoid the looming generation crunch.

Discussion centred around five main areas:

• Domestic energy efficiency and emissions reduction
• Meeting medium-term (2020) carbon reduction goals agreed by Government
• De-carbonising the generation sector to achieve longer-term (2050) carbon reduction goals
• Regulation and the competitive market
• The role of Government in the utilities sector.

These key themes were further explored in our delegate survey, the results of which are set out in our publication An energetic response (PDF 945KB) together with commentary on some of the key findings.